THE MALAYSIA RANGERS

by James Rand

 (Brian Finch writing in the Autumn 2011 edition prompted this memoir.)

Like Brian I was seconded to the Malaysian Army for a two and a half year tour of duty. On arrival in Malaysia, I first went to Port Dickson for a 6-week Malay language course. As far as I remember there were six of us on this course. My first position with the 2nd Battalion Malaysia Rangers was Mortar Platoon Commander. Prior to Malaysia I had attended the Support Platoon Commanders’ Course at Netheravon, so I was familiar with 81mm mortars, though the Malaysian Army had the French Hotchkiss Brandt mortar and not the one used by the British Army. We were stationed at Batu Gajah in northern Malaya and also deployed on the Malay/Thai border for some of the time. While in Batu Gajah I approached a local Chinese school and in my spare time was taught some Mandarin, eventually achieving colloquial standard when I took the exam in Singapore. Later on, when I arrived at CLS I could already speak some Mandarin, although my course was Cantonese.

Midway through my secondment to the Malaysia Rangers, the battalion was posted to Tawau in Sabah and I was given a rifle company to command, even though I was only a lieutenant. I was the only orang puteh (white man) in the battalion and when it moved to Sabah I was on the troopship with the soldiers, whilst all the other officers flew.

About two days into our voyage we were sailing along the north coast of Sarawak – clear blue sky, deep blue sea, flying fish, and tiny islands to port – it was like a scene from ‘South Pacific’, incredibly soothing and beautiful; all those others who flew didn’t know what they were missing. The joke was on them – they thought I had been given the unpleasant task when I was detailed to the troopship.

The soldiers in the 2nd Battalion were mostly Kadazan, and I even learnt snatches of the Kadazan language, which is completely different from Malay. I enjoyed my time with the Malaysia Rangers, and if Brian and I ever meet up it would be interesting to swap our experiences.